Legacy
by thegenuineimitation
Summary: A long forgotten secret may spell salvation or disaster for Alagaesia.
1. Chapter 1: Coming Home

**Legacy**

**Chapter One: Coming Home**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Eragon or the Inheritance Cycle

**Author's Note: **Hey guys and gals welcome to Legacy, my attempt at an epic re-vamp of Eragon! Take head brave readers for if you venture forth into this fic you will meet with strange waters, plot only superficially resembling canon, lots of OCs, odd and unexpected pairings and general chaos! To be perfectly honest I wasn't sure that posting this fic was a good idea (especially considering the amount of unfinished fics I have posted) because I don't think there is anything like this out there and I'm not appealing to a pairing fan base. Let me know what you guys think!

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The view from the crow's nest was magnificent, not a cloud in the sky and there in the distance was the island. Home, it had been so long he'd almost forgotten what it looked like.

"Kairos, get down here or the Captain will keel haul you,"

Kairos grinned and, just to scare the snot out of the crew, he swung out of the nest and into the rigging on a loose line and scrambled down to the deck enjoying the feel of the sun warmed deck boards against his bare feet.

"You're gonna break your neck one of these days, boy," said the quartermaster ruffling his hair.

Kairos scoffed and ran a hand through his long sun-streaked mop set it to its normal state of disarray rather than the bird's nest it had been.

"I know the rigging better than I know the back of my own hand, Liyr" Kairos protested.

"Hn, tell that to your parents when they are weeping over your mangled body," Liyr said unsympathetically.

"We're not more than an hour away from home, the horizon is calm not a squall for as far as the eye can see," Kairos reported with a grin.

"The Captain will be pleased, in the mean time Old Jo needs your girly hands at mending sails,"

"You're just jealous 'cause Old Jo likes me better," said Kairos haughtily.

Liyr laughed as Kairos swaggered away doing a passable impression of a young Alagaesian aristocrat.

"That boy get's more and more like you every day Captain," Liyr told the inconspicuous shadow that detached itself from the lee of the mast.

"Witty, charming, and devilishly handsome?" suggested Captain Spier.

"Reckless, haughty, and sarcastic, you mean,"

"Me...Surely not," the Captain protested facetiously, "He's not really a boy anymore," Spier said suddenly serious.

"Aye, but sixteen summers does not a man make either," Liyr reminded him.

"There was a time we thought very differently," Spier chuckled.

"Look where it got us, we're hunted outlaws, if Galbatorix dared explore beyond his landmass we would be done for. Is that really the life you want for your son?"

"No, but it is the legacy he was born to all the same,"

"Land ho!"

Kairos glanced up from his fine stitch work to see that the island was fast approaching its lush blossoming trees looming with the promise of shade.

"Tie off that line!"

"Take in more sail; we don't want to have to repair the dock because we crashed into it!"

Old Jo chuckled.

"Get on with ye then lad, if yer not going to work here ye might as well be scampering about the rigging,"

"Thanks Jo," Kairos exclaimed extricating himself from their secluded corner.

Kairos joined the frenzy of activity that came before docking tying of lines, securing their stolen cargo, raising the sails and weighing anchor. He was practically vibrating in excitement. He would see his mother and sisters again. He would sleep without the company of grunting snoring sex-starved bunkmates. Scratch that he would sleep with whomever as long as he got to sleep in a bed, a soft mattress stuffed with fragrant grasses and goose feathers.

"Welcome home," his father said appearing silently out of nowhere behind him.

Kairos barely started, used now to his father's appearing and disappearing act. If he was trying most of the time he could find Spier anyway.

"It's been so long, Mellie will be all grown up now and Ajha will be ten," said Kairos shaking his head amazedly.

Spier let out a bark of laughter.

"They will not recognize you at all; you are a far cry from the reedy little boy who got on this ship seven years ago. You've sailed to all sorts of faraway places, and seen such extraordinary things. They'll probably be just as amazed by your changes as you are by theirs, the thing about people is they are only changed until you can fit all their new pieces into the puzzle you remember," he explained as they slid to a lurching halt.

The crew broke into spontaneous cheers and a rousing song was struck up as the mooring lines were tossed to the men on the docks and the gangplank was lowered. Kairos grinned when Scarred Mort's young wife flung herself into his arms and kissed him soundly on the mouth and joined in on the raucous cheers and lewd remarks.

The Captain stuck to fingers in his mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle that cut through the din and caught the immediate attention of everyone aboard.

"Get off my ship ye mangy scabrous dogs, get a few wenches and celebrate cause tomorrow yer arse is mine again and we'll be unloading sorting and storing cargo as well as doing full scale repairs," he shouted loudly enough to be heard by all.

"Aye Cap'n," was the rousing response as the crew members scattered to the four winds either by walking off the dock or by the simple expedient of diving into the turquoise waters of the island cove.

"C'mon Kairos, let's go home," Spier said slinging an arm around his son's shoulders.

They walked off the dock waving at halfway familiar strangers and taking the path up the beach a ways there at the end of the beach sat their sprawling little estate. They were home.

"Mama, come see, it's Papa," cried a young girl with honey coloured hair.

"Ajha my sweet look at you, you got so big!" laughed Spier twirling her around as she threw herself at him unreservedly.

A familiar figure appeared on the veranda and Kairos' mouth went dry. Willowy as a young tree with a long brown braid hanging over her shoulder she looked almost exactly as Kairos remembered her.

"Mother!" he cried happily.

"Oh Kai,"

They ran to each other and met with a fierce hug.

"Look at you, I wouldn't know you from the King if you didn't look so much like your father," she exclaimed kissing his forehead, though she had to stand on tiptoe to reach it.

Her gaze turned to a point over his shoulder.

"Spier..." she sighed contentedly ensconcing herself in his arms.

Kairos let his parents have their moment.

"Remember me little bean?" he asked, grinning at his younger sister.

"Wow Kai, you got big..." she said in wonderment looking up at him.

"Too big for a hug?"

She grinned happily.

"Never,"

Ajha threw her long gangly arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.

"Mother, what's all the fuss about?"

"Mellie, come greet your father and Kai," Veride called.

A very pregnant woman ambled out onto the veranda.

"Papa?"

"My, my Mellie, you have been busy, who's the lucky fellow?" asked Spier giving Mellie a somewhat more gentle hug and laying a large tanned hand over her bulging belly.

"That would be Iain," she laughed.

"The little twig who was always putting mud in your hair?" Kairos said sceptically.

"Yep, he's grown a little bit since then of course...and so have you baby brother, look at you, you're taller than me now!" Mellie exclaimed hugging him.

Kairos hugged her back gingerly, not wanting to hurt her in her fragile state.

"Come in, I'll get you some lunch you must be starving," Veride said bustling into the house with Ajha dragging Spier and Kai along behind her.

The rest of the day was spent catching up for the family. Spier and Kairos spent hours telling edited versions of their adventures at sea, and describing all the different places they'd seen and then the girls told them what had happened in the village while they were away, who'd gotten married, who had kids, which farms had been destroyed in the last hurricane. Not as picturesque as the stories told by the males but they were just as important and amazing to they who had been away so long.

"Mama, tell them about Yasuel," Ajha insisted over dinner.

"Oh yes that's right, thank you for reminding me dearest,"

"Who is Yasuel?" asked Spier with a raised eyebrow as he set down his roll.

"He was a merchant of some sort apparently back in Terim, he sailed in about a year ago looking for your father, he said they were friends," Veride explained.

"The only friends my father had were rebels, thieves, and general riffraff," growled Spier suspiciously.

"Yes, well, when I told him that Spyros was six years dead and buried he seemed incredibly distressed and then insisted that he must speak with you. When I told him you'd been gone for six years and that I didn't know when you'd be back he flitted about the island trying to find someone who knew Spyros well enough to fit certain criteria but of course they were all either with you or dead. Eventually he installed himself in a cave on the other side of the island. He comes and visits now and then and I swear he gets more nervous every time I see him," Veride shook her head.

"Well wouldn't you living out in the back end of nowhere with no one to talk to for months on end," Mellie remarked shaking her head.

"So odd that one of my father's contacts would come looking for him after all this time," Spier muttered taking a bit of his roll and chewing on it thoughtfully, "Veride, where exactly does this Yasuel person live, I think if he was so distressed to find my father dead it must be an urgent and probably dangerous matter, I best deal with it immediately,"

"He lives a good day's hike straight through the jungle at the base of the big cliff. He makes himself useful by lighting a signal fire on the top of the cliff when a storm is coming in and in turn we let him have his pick of the food and clothes come market day,"

"Hmm, I'm going to have a talk with Liyr, I'll want to go see this Yasuel first thing tomorrow and he'll need to supervise the unloading of the cargo..." Spier thought aloud.

Veride's eyes went cold at the mention of Liyr's name.

"Do you have to go tonight?"

Spier took one look at his wife's face and chuckled darkly rising. He took her by the arms and kissed her soundly.

"Relax yourself Veride; I'll only be gone for a bit,"

"Which is more than enough time for you and Liyr no doubt," she hissed jerking herself out of Spier's rough hold and clearing the table primly.

"Veride, we've been over this..."

"Just go, and hurry back," snapped Veride waving him off.

Spier sighed but turned and strode out of the house none the less. Veride bustled around in the kitchen washing dishes and engaging Mellie in a somewhat forced conversation about making fruit tarts or a pastry to welcome them home. Kairos and Ajha left the room and went to see that the geese were all still in their pen.

"What was that about?" asked Ajha once they were out of earshot.

"I have no idea," Kairos lied easily.

In fact he had his suspicions but if his father and mother wanted them to know they would have told them.

"I've never understood why Mama doesn't like Liyr, he's Papa's best friend after all, you'd think they could all just get along," sighed Ajha scattering some bread crumbs for the geese.

Kairos hesitated unsure of what to tell his perceptive younger sister, and how much.

"Well...I think perhaps Mama blames Liyr for taking father and I away from her for so long," he said hopping up easily to sit on the fence post.

"That's ridiculous, Papa is the Captain not Liyr,"

"Liyr and father grew up together when father was still living in Alagaesia and they were always into some sort of trouble or another. Grandfather approved of course being a thief himself but when father married Mama well...she wanted him to stay and he wanted to go adventuring with Liyr again," shrugged Kairos.

"Mama was always saying how reckless Papa was, how selfish, she didn't like the fact that he took you with him at all...if she didn't love him..." Ajha trailed off shaking her head.

"Hn," Kairos agreed.

In truth Kairos was glad that his father had taken him with him. Shipboard he had a purpose and a sense of freedom that was simply breathtaking and all the things he'd learned that he would never have even heard about on the island. He'd been taught to read and write and climb and tie and sew and...No he could never have been content as a farmer or a carpenter or a blacksmith. Though thinking about it fairly he couldn't really say that because he'd never done those things before, perhaps if he'd been apprenticed before father left...well there was no use dwelling on it. He couldn't go back now, he was a sailor, an adventurer, and he loved it too much to do anything else now.

"I'm going to bed, don't stay out too long or Mama will be worried," Ajha yawned waving goodnight to him.

Kairos waved back absently his eyes narrowing at a pair of shadows leaning against a tree a ways down the beach. He would know those shadows anywhere. Quietly making sure that his mother and sisters weren't watching him he slunk across the beach to join his father and Liyr in the shadows.

"I'm coming with you," he announced to his father when the silence betrayed the fact that they'd heard him coming.

Spier turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What makes you think you can shirk work, you're still a part of the crew no matter who's son you are,"

"You shouldn't go traipsing about the jungle alone, Liyr is the only one you would trust with this and he has to stay and supervise the unloading because he's the Quartermaster, therefore I am coming with you," Kairos insisted crossing his arms and staring his father down in such a way as to dare him to protest.

Liyr let out a quiet chuckle.

"There you have it Spier, problem solved,"

"Stop looking like the cat that's caught the mouse," grumbled Spier, giving Liyr a glower.

"Kairos is as good as either of us at sneaking and lying, although perhaps not as practiced, and he's fit and trustworthy. What more could you ask for, mate?" Liyr pointed out.

"Fine, fine, it seems my mind has been changed for me," groused Spier as Kairos and Liyr shared looks of supreme satisfaction.

"Yasuel...do you remember any of my father's old contacts being named Yasuel?" Spier asked Liyr.

Liyr considered the question.

"There was Yasuanna that whore in Belatona..." Liyr suggested.

"No, Veride assures me that it is an old man," Spier said shaking his head, "And besides what would Yasuanna or any of her get be so desperate to find Spyros for?"

"Hn," agreed Liyr.

"Well I suppose we'll find out tomorrow," shrugged Spier, "Be ready before dawn...with your knives," he instructed Kairos.

Kairos nodded understanding; his father expected a certain amount of trouble.

"Be careful, both of you, Old Spyros had friends in very low places," Liyr warned.

"Aye, sir," agreed Kairos gravely.

"C'mon Liyr, you know me I'm always careful," grinned Spier charmingly.

"Hn," snorted Liyr sceptically.

"I'll tell Veride you said hello,"

This time Liyr's snort was something more along the lines of exasperated disgust.

"Don't worry Liyr, I'll keep him out of trouble and he'll keep me out of trouble," Kairos interjected.

"We'll have some father and son bonding time," added Spier.

"It'll be fun," Kairos concluded.

They both turned angelic grins on the quartermaster. Liyr simply snorted and started walking down the beach.

"It's like he has no faith in our abilities," pouted Kairos.

Spier laughed, "C'mere kid, let's get some sleep before the sun catches up with us,"

"Aye Cap'n," Kairos agreed.

Arms slung about each other's shoulders the father and son ambled back to the house and turned in for the night.

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**AN: **I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of Legacy! Please, please, pretty please with sugar on top review and let me know what your thoughts are. Do you like the OCs so far? Do you have an idea or four for plot? Who needs some loving? How can I know the many and varied answers to these questions unless you leave me a review and tell me?


	2. Chapter 2: Secrets and Treasure

**Legacy**

**Chapter Two: Secrets and Treasure**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Inheritance Cycle.

**AN:** Please review and let me know what you think!

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At false dawn the next morning Kairos roused himself from his real bed with a groan of discontent. Staggering over to the wash basin he splashed himself with a bit of water to wake him up more fully and rummaged around in his carry sack. He pulled on a loose pair of canvas pants and an old shirt with the sleeves ripped off and stomped his feet into the worn leather boots he hadn't laid eyes on since Alagaesia and their last landfall. Then he strapped his wicked long knife to his thigh and hid the rest in various places on his person both obvious and not-so-obvious.

He found his father in the kitchen wrapping up a bit of bread and dried meat strips for lunch. Kai noted that his father had strapped his cutlass to his own hip. Wordlessly Spier tossed Kairos a piece of fruit and then they were off. Spier set the pace at a long-legged ground-eating march and they were well under the canopy of the jungle by the time the sun rose and protected from the worst of its rays as Spier had intended.

"So what do you think this Yasuel wants from you?" asked Kairos just to make conversation.

"Well it depends on who he really is; I can almost guarantee you his name isn't Yasuel,"

"Why's that?"

"No self-respecting low-life would have a prissy aristo name like Yasuel and use it within the thieving world, well not and live to be an old man anyway,"

"Well what about those aristo thieves we met smuggling booze out of Surda?"

"Ah, that's different though, the real criminals like my father would never associate with the so called aristo crime lords. For one it's disrespectful, two Spyros was taught thieving from his master from a young age because he was so poor it was that or whoring and he wouldn't be caught dead doing dealings with that sort, and three because aristo thieves just don't stay in the Life this long and live, most thieves are of the same opinion as Spyros and they go out of their way to make life difficult and dangerous for the aristos," shrugged Spier detouring around a large fat spider who'd spun its web in the middle of their way.

"Thieves with standards, what is the world coming to," Kairos remarked.

"Thieves have always had standards its mercs you've got to watch out for cause they'll rob you blind and then kill you just for the heck of it. At least thieves usually leave you alive, assassins too only kill you if you're their target or you see them when their working,"

"Liyr was an assassin wasn't he, before he left Alagaesia I mean,"

"Yep, he was apprenticed to one of the best too, the Black Hand's own mentor, but Liyr didn't have the stomach for killing cold so his master sent him over to the Thieves Den and Spyros snapped him up before anyone else could and taught him how to thieve, Liyr's forgotten more things about sneaking, poison, weapons, lock picking and disappearing then you or I will ever know," Spier said shaking his head nostalgically.

"It looks like we're almost there," Kairos pointed out seeing the cliff through the thick canopy.

"Hmm, that took less time than I expected," Spier said frowning at the cliff as if he expected it to pick itself up and move several miles further back.

"Well at least we won't be stuck in this jungle at night," Kai said running an absent hand through his sweaty hair.

"Yes..."

Spier was silent after that though clearly thinking hard as they pushed through the jungle and out into a kind of grassy clearing at the base of the cliff. Kairos scanned the base of the cliff with his keen eyes.

"There, I see the cave," he announced.

"Good, whatever you do Kai, don't turn your back on him, he may be old but he's a thief and a brigand and probably as dangerous as they come," Spier advised him sharply.

"Aye, sir," Kairos agreed.

"Good lad," said Spier ruffling his hair.

Kairos shot him an annoyed look as he righted his hair and followed him towards the cave. It was fairly large as far as natural caves went and the clear area in front of the entrance spoke clearly of human habitation. There was also a clear, if steep path from the cave up to the top of the plateau made accessible by a tall ladder leaned up against the cliff face. This guy must be agile for an old man, Kai thought to himself. He would of course have to be to make it in the Life but the physical evidence put him on his guard more than any warning could have.

"Let me do the talking, don't speak unless he speaks directly to you and even then use short evasive answers. You know how to play the Game of course but...be careful, I mislike this," said Spier in a terse undertone.

Kai nodded his understanding and together they walked the final few feet up to the mouth of the cave.

"Yasuel, it is Spier son of Spyros, my wife tells me you were looking for me," Spier called out into the cave casually.

His voice echoed eerily into the gloom of the cave, the loud reverberation would ensure that the sound carried to whoever was inside.

"Spier, is that you? Finally I was beginning to think you would never come and I would be stuck..." the voice was nervous and didn't seem to suit the straight-backed old man with a bit of a beer belly and a long steel grey ponytail who came tearing to the front of the cave.

"Randolf, I might have known, only you would be so confident as to take an aristo use name," Spier said shaking his head as the man appeared.

"I had to hide; from everyone...they're looking always looking! Spier they cannot find me they must not! That's why I need your help. You were Spyros' best apprentice and his only son...he told you everything..." Randolf started rambling eyes darting this way and that until they fell on Kairos.

"Who is this, who is this? Spier you know better than that..."

"Relax Crowfood, this is my son Kairos," snapped Spier annoyed.

"Hmm, thought you had only daughters...he can be trusted?"

"He can be trusted," Spier growled eyes narrowing.

Randolf winced and held his hands up in the universal gesture for surrender.

"No offence, no offence!"

"What do you need from me Crowfood? I haven't got all year,"

"Right, yes, of course but you're a busy man," cackled Randolf waving them inside, "I heard, heard of the pirate attacks, but I never thought...and then I got here and well..."

"Yes well, there's not much to steal on an island with no currency," Spier said feigning boredom as his sharp eyes took in the Spartan living arrangement.

"Yes, yes, no point, no point...have to make a living somehow...have to have excitement, adventure. You were noticed, Spier, noticed by the king he's sent in sleepers, agents yes to look for you, sent out other pirate ships to catch you harried everyone in Teirm and searched up and down the coasts. Old Spyros made him mad...mad...mad..." Randolf broke off giggling a bit, "Knew what he was going to do, but the old fox was too quick and you disappeared...took so long to find you, but I knew I must...I must, must find you and show you because you are your father's son!"

"You're getting a little mad yourself out here all alone," Spier pointed out.

"Have to be, have to be alone, no one can know but you and your family...I trusted Spyros, trusted him I did indeed, knew I could count on him, know I can count on you...you must help me! The King cannot know!" Randolf cried out suddenly grabbing fistfuls of Spier's shirt.

Kai hand his long knife out and poised at the old man's neck in an instant. Randolf froze and let go holding up his hands in surrender.

"Meant no harm, no harm loyal boy...just like his daddy, yes can be trusted, loyal," nodded Randolf licking his lips anxiously.

"Relax yourself Crowfood, if there is one thing you can count on I will do nothing that will aide Galbatorix,"

"Don't speak his name! He's a sorcerer hears and knows...he must not know..." muttered Randolf skittering further into the cave and turning abruptly into an antechamber.

Kai raised an eyebrow at his father. Spier gave him a nod and Kai sheathed his knife reluctantly. Whatever the old man thought of Kairos' trustworthiness Kai certainly didn't trust him. They followed the old man.

The antechamber was small and empty except for a few privy pots that smelled quite rank a broom that had seen better days and a few woven grass mats. Randolf was muttering to himself as he pulled the mats away and took the broom to sweep of the lumpy section of sand covered ground underneath them. As he swept a thin piece of wood was revealed and Randolf removed it revealing the man sized sinkhole that lead to another section of cave.

"Come, come, you must see and quickly now..." Randolf said dropping unconcernedly into the hole, "Mustn't leave it uncovered for long or they might find it,"

Kairos jumped into the hole first without waiting for his father's signal and caught a glare for it as Randolf went around lighting torches enough to see the entire cave clearly. Then eyes darting he grabbed the edge of the grass mats and pulled them back into place. Clearly this guy was more than a little paranoid. In the cave was a sleeping pallet on a stone shelf complete with patchwork quilts and a few grass and goose feather stuffed pillows in faded colours, a few grass mats and furs to cover the cold stone floor, a crate overflowing with wrinkled clothes, an extra bedroll, and a fire pit.

"Now what is it you wanted to show me Crowfood?"

"Not yet, not yet, first I must tell you of how I found it and then you will know why it had to be you,"

Spier hesitated but then nodded his assent folding himself cross-legged onto a rug and turning to watch Randolf attentively as the old man paced and wrung his wrinkled hands.

"It starts, as it always does in the Life, with a rumour. An old elf crypt some said, Vrael's tomb, the family resting place for one of the old Duke's. Everyone agreed the dead there were rich, and rich ones are always buried with their gold and jewels instead of just a little something to pay the toll across the Lake of Souls. I wanted to find it...my last heist, enough to let me retire comfortably in Belatona or some small city in Surda, didn't put much stock in the rumour of curses and the like...people are always spooked by the dead and rotten but not me no, no. I found it, I found it before anyone else, and I spent days among the dead ones searching and searching...but what I found..." Randolf started shaking his head, "I knew, I knew the minute I found them that I couldn't put them back...there would be more, more searchers, one of them would find them and that would be bad, bad, bad. I took them and I ran I couldn't let the King find them; no one could know I had them all, no one, no one at all. I remembered Spyros the Old Fox, he knew about these things, he could help me get rid of them, take them away from me, away from the King...I started searching chasing every little rumour hauling up all my old friends long retired. I couldn't, wouldn't keep them...but I needed to give them to someone who would know the proper place to put them. Everyone knew the story about how Spyros got on the wrong side of the King stealing something he shouldn't have laid eyes on. I always had a suspicion, now I knew for sure it was the only way everything fit. I tracked him down used the gold and shiny little baubles and aristo trinkets to pay for a ship and a three man crew. Tracked him to the island, followed him into the uncharted waters...that was the worst trying to hide them on the ship. The sailors and their nosing, poking where they should not poke, getting ideas, getting suspicious...that's the problem with the Life, everybody knows, everybody suspects, rumours, rumours, always our undoing. The wrong word to the wrong person and before you can blink there's blood everywhere, all dead, all rotten, corpses for Old Crowfood to plunder," Randolf broke off for a moment cackling maniacally.

"What did you do Crowfood, when you found out Spyros was dead?" Spier asked sternly seeing clearly that Randolf was out of his tree and his mind besides.

"Not yet, not yet, I had to kill them Spier, you see? Couldn't have the rumours spreading about Old Randolf, told them my name was Yasuel but no idiot in the Life uses an aristo name even if he pays with aristo gold. It was too important, too important; I couldn't be found...the King he hunts down the rumours and...and..." Randolf shuddered and shook his head unable to continue for a moment, "But then to learn, the Old Fox, Old Spyros has gone to join the dead ones, rotting in the ground for six long years...I became desperate, it didn't matter now about rumours I had to find someone, anyone who would take them... but they were all buried or out at sea, lucky me, no rumour, no one in the Life, no one to trust. I had to get away, if I could not be rid of them just yet they needed to be hidden and hidden well, found the cave, found the sinkhole, hid...watched, waited. I knew you were back saw your sail on the horizon, must be you else I was in big trouble, and here you are and here you are!" cried Randolf delightedly.

"Randolf, show me what exactly it is you found," Spier ordered.

Randolf glanced from side to side suspiciously even going so far as to poke his head out from under the grass mat covering the entrance to the underground cave and check the privy room for intruders. Thus satisfied that they were in fact alone Randolf scrambled over to the fire pit and began digging through the ashes with his bare hands. Apparently they went quite deep because the old man was up to his elbows in soot before he pulled out a charred canvas sack that was equally filthy and dumped its contents irreverently on the mat in front of Spier and Kai. Spier's eyes went wide and his jaw went slack with shock.

"You see, you see?" whispered Randolf agitatedly his fingers twitching as four enormous gems rolled across the mats.

Kai examined the one that landed at his feet curiously. It was about a foot long and oval in shape and the most beautiful shade of purple he had ever seen, rippling and veined with white. Carefully he picked it up, it was lighter than it should have been considering its size and so smooth it was almost slippery. Setting it in his lap he tapped the top with one fingernail and was surprised when a chime like noise emitted from it. He glanced up at his father who looked to be on the verge of some kind of fit.

"H-how did you...what have you done Randolf?" Spier stuttered.

Kairos frowned; his father had never once stuttered that he was aware of. These gems must be worth a lot of money and be very rare for his father to so openly demonstrate his shock. He played the Game very well.

"I didn't mean it...the spells, the spells were old...they crumbled, I couldn't leave them!" cried Randolf clearly distressed.

"No," agreed Spier softly laying a cautious hand on the turquoise gem, "No, I don't suppose you could have,"

"But it's not all, it is not all! These too, they were there, it was a cache a Rider cache, one he never found, one nobody ever found except me," said Randolf ripping his bedding apart until they could see the bundle of gleaming weaponry in gemlike colours.

Spier lurched to his feet to examine the weapons and swore violently. Kairos raised an eyebrow, who knew his father could be so creative.

"No, no, this cannot be happening again," growled Spier raking a hand brutally through his hair.

"I was right? You know?"

"I know, damnit, this is not good Crowfood! There is an ocean, an Empire, and if I'm not mistaken either a desert or an impassable mountain range between us and the only people I would feel safe turning these over to, it's too risky,"

"No, no, you must, you must take them, I cannot keep them, they cannot stay here, he will find them, he will find them!" shrieked Randolf hysterically tears running down his weathered cheeks as he practically vibrated with emotion.

The old man's eyes darted frantically around the room as if looking for a way to escape and suddenly and without any warning he closed a hand around the hilt of a white hand and a half sword and swung it inexpertly at Spier, shrieking "You must!" over and over again. Spier managed to dodge far enough out of the way that the sword only just caught him rolling across the sandy floor as Randolf raised the thing like and axe and narrowly missed taking off Spier's head.

Before his father could leap to his feet and whip out his cutlass Kai had his knife out and had charged Randolf kicking the sword out of the old man's inexpert grip and sending it skittering across the sandy floor and coming up with his intimidating knife pressed against Randolf's throat. Still shrieking the hysterical old man ran himself through punching his neck against Kai's knife before Kai could react. Kairos recoiled as the man opened his mouth and began to laugh gargling spraying blood everywhere before he collapsed twitching on the floor.

"Kai, Kairos are you alright?" Spier asked anxiously taking him by the shoulders and shaking him while he stared straight ahead at the bloody corpse of Randolf Crowfood.

Kairos dashed to the fire pit and was violently sick. Spier held his hair out of the way and rubbed his back like he had when Kai was a small child and had taken sick.

"Oh god, I killed him," said Kai shaking wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"No, no Kai...he killed himself, to force us to deal with this mess he's made, typical brigand," snorted Spier before rising with a groan.

"Father, are you alright?" asked Kai anxiously.

"Well he scored me pretty good with that Rider weapon, but I won't know how bad it really is until Liyr can get a look at it," Spier hissed as he held his damaged side blood and sand caking his hands in equal measure.

"All this over a couple of big gems and some fancy swords," said Kai disgustedly shaking his head and spitting quickly into the fire pit as bile rose in his throat again at the gruesome sight of Randolf grinning and covered with blood, his knife sticking out of his throat.

"Those aren't gems Kai, they're eggs, dragon eggs, and the weapons belonged to dragonriders. The King would happily set fire to all of Alagaesia to have these, and they are the only hope of the Alagaesian people to escape from his tyranny," Spier explained.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kairos his eyes going impossibly wide at the revelation.

"I don't know, I suppose we'll have to take them with us, get one of the smaller boats prepped, you Liyr and I can get these to Alagaesia...then I suppose I'll have to contact my father's old friend Jeod, he's with the Varden, he hired Spyros to steal what we all thought at the time were the last remaining dragon eggs from the King...there were rumours of course, and like Crowfood over there said, the wrong people found out and blood was spilt. That's why we came here in the first place, left the job, heard Jeod gave it to that upstart from Furnost, then he went bat crazy and ran from Galbatorix and the Varden," Spier explained tiredly.

"Bundle everything up, hopefully we have a little daylight left," Spier ordered grabbing one of the lit torches and clearing away the grass mats.

He shook his head amazedly.

"Crowfood may have been a paranoid, nervous little scavenger but he sure knew how to hide things,"

"Yeah, because the paranoia was driving him crazy," grunted Kai carefully not looking at Randolf as he grabbed his knife, tore it out of the old man's throat, wiped it clean and strapped it back onto his thigh.

Spier nodded approvingly as Kai hoisted himself and his bundles out of the sinkhole. He set fire to the grass mats that had previously guarded the entrance and threw them down the hole along with the wood board. The grass lined room went up almost immediately.

"There, a cremation, more than the bone picker deserves," Spier said grunting in pain as he stood and made his way out of the cave torch held aloft.

It was twilight outside as Spier and Kai made their way through the dark paths of the jungle. Spier was going somewhat slower than he had owing to the amount of blood he'd lost before the muddy blood and dirt and sticky clothing compress he had going on stopped it from flowing. Kairos was worried, his father was pale and breathing hard and judging by the state of the wound infection was inevitable. Kai feigned the need to rest, owing to the heavy burden presented by the bundle of Rider artefacts, several times to let his father stop and breathe, because of course Spier was too proud to admit that he was in considerable pain. To his credit though, he made it to the edge of the jungle without more than a grunt or two of discomfort before passing out.

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**AN: **And there you have it folks another exciting chapter of Legacy, my epic Eragon revamp! Please review and let me know what you guys think!


	3. Chapter 3: Blood, Guts and Other Matters

**Legacy**

**Chapter Three: Blood, Guts, and Other Matters of the Heart**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Inheritance Cycle.

**Author's Note:** I would thank everyone who reviewed, alerted and favourited...but no one did *cries in a corner* seriously if it's that awful I would prefer you all flame me out of the fandom than let me continue rambling on and giving me the silent treatment. Speaking of rambling, hey look I'm doing that right now, on to the story!

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"Father!" called Kai, cursing when he did not even stir.

His heart pounded somewhere in the vicinity of his throat and he fought a sudden panic. His father was strong as a bear and as stubborn as the mutant offspring of and ox and a mule, but he needed Kai to keep a clear head. Kairos took a deep breath and surveyed the situation. He couldn't carry both the Rider cache and his father. Of the two he knew which one meant more to him.

Thinking quickly Kairos scurried up the nearest tree and hid the precious bundle there until he could come back for it. He then hoisted his father up onto his back and made a weak jogging beeline for the cottage he knew to be Liyr's. Liyr having been an assassin and thus educated in both internal and external human anatomy also doubled as a doctor in times of need, with Old Jo making assists when fine and gentle stitching was needed.

"Liyr!" shouted Kairos as he made it up onto the veranda, "Liyr, father's been injured I need your help!"

Liyr appeared as if conjured by some sorcery his tanned face suddenly pale.

"Come this way, put him on the bed, and then go fetch me brandy and my kit from the cupboard," Liyr ordered methodically divesting Spier of his boots and weapons.

Kai deposited his burden as gently as he could manage on Liyr's bed and dashed into the kitchen to fetch the required items. Liyr snatched the kit from his hand and drew out a pair of scissors. He passed them through a candle a few times, rinsed the soot off with brandy and swiftly cut away the bloody, sand encrusted shirt. It joined the cutlass and boots in a heap on the floor in the corner. Liyr hissed as he saw the extent of the damage.

"How did this happen?"

"We found out that Yasuel was actually Randolf Crowfood," Liyr's eyes flashed with recognition, "He was delusional, beyond paranoid, something father said must have set him off because he went completely mad, and went after father with a sword," Kai explained shortly.

"Hn," commented Liyr as he poured liberal amounts of brandy into the wound.

It started bleeding again as Liyr carefully flushed out the sand and bits of cloth. Using the scissors here and there to dig out the bigger chunks of debris.

"Come here Kai, I need you to stitch it closed," Liyr ordered holding up a pre-threaded suture needle.

"What me?" paled Kai.

"It's just like mending a sail, here wash your hands in the brandy, there's a lad," coaxed the quartermaster.

Pale and vaguely nauseous but determined Kairos began to stitch up the wound with swift neat stitches taking extreme care and concentrating hard. Once he'd tied off the last stitch Kai backed away his hands bloody and trembling uncontrollably and he watched blank faced and sick feeling as Liyr spread a poultice on the stitched wound and wrapped it all in brandy soaked bandages.

"Is he going to be okay, Liyr...is he going to be alright?" asked Kai anxiously.

Liyr looked equally upset; Kairos thought he even saw tears in the unflappable pirate's eyes.

"I don't know Kai...given how dirty the wound was...infection is the biggest problem now. Spier is very strong but he's not as young as he used to be and he pushed himself so hard...well, we'll have to wait and see," Liyr told him honestly.

Kai sunk to the floor shaking. Liyr flopped down next to him and put and arm around him holding him tightly. Neither of them spoke but both of them cried that night as the candle burned low, and then out, and still there was no change in Spier. Eventually they fell asleep leaning against each other.

Exhausted as Kairos was he didn't notice Liyr wake, lay him down on the floor and cover him with a blanket. He woke up late that afternoon to find Liyr dabbing his father's forehead with a damp cold cloth.

"Liyr?" he queried blearily staggering to his feet and lurching drunkenly to his father's bedside.

"He's fevered and still unconscious, but so far the wound isn't festering or gangrenous," Liyr reported dutifully.

"So we still don't know?"

"He's not out of the woods yet but he isn't at death's door either, the problem will be if he doesn't wake up and we can't get food into him,"

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Kai feeling useless.

"Right now, go take a long swim in the ocean, you're covered in blood and reek of sweat and body odour,"

Obediently Kairos snuck into his house, grabbed his as of yet packed carry sack and brought it with him to a secluded spot on the beach where he stripped out of his clothes and tossed them into the forest before wading into the ocean scrubbing himself raw with sand and then taking a long circuitous swim. Once he felt calmer and cleansed by the ocean he pulled on a pair of deck pants to preserve his modesty and walked slowly back to Liyr's cottage avoiding being seen and letting the sun dry him simultaneously. When Kairos reappeared in the converted sickroom he found that Spier too had been given a bath and was conscious if a tad delirious.

"He's been asking for you," Liyr told him.

"Why don't you get something to eat Liyr, I'll watch him for a minute," Kai suggested seeing the dark circles under the quartermaster's eyes and the worry lines creasing his forehead.

"I'll just be in the kitchen," he agreed gratefully.

"Kai, Kai my lad," rasped Spier.

"I'm right here, father," Kairos said soothingly taking Spier's hand in his own.

"Kai you have to take the eggs, to Alagaesia, there is no time," Spier insisted.

"There is time enough, I won't leave you here sick and injured," Kai protested.

"It is necessary, this is a safe haven but if the King finds out about the eggs, this last free and happy village will be razed to the ground. You must go to protect your mother, and sisters, the crew and their families, Liyr...and me too now I suppose, though how long I'll be in a state to need protecting is debateable,"

"You won't die, you can't," Kai said fiercely.

"Oh I assure you Kai I am just as mortal as the next man,"

Kairos shook his head stubbornly.

"You will get better; Liyr loves you too much to let you die,"

Spier started in surprise. Then he chuckled weakly.

"Picked up on that did you? How long have you known?"

"Awhile,"

Spier chuckled again.

"I should have known you'd figure it out Kai, you're a smart boy, almost a man..." he sighed mournfully, "I do love your mother Kai, never doubt that, it is a simple thing to be in love with two completely different people at once, the complicated part comes when you have to tell those loves about the other and then live with them both," chuckled Spier ironically.

"I'll remember that," said Kai wryly.

"Good...Good. Take the eggs, get a sloop, sail far and fast...go tonight as soon as possible, you must get them off the island," Spier insisted.

"I was hoping you'd forgotten that,"

"Not on your life boy, now go, that's an order...go!"

Kai bent and kissed his father on the cheek.

"Alright then, I'll do it, but only if you promise me you won't die while I'm gone," Kairos demanded.

"Kai I can't do that..."

"Promise me, or I can't go,"

Spier regarded him carefully and then sighed.

"So stubborn, so like your old man...alright Kai, I promise,"

"Good, you can't break your word once you've given it, so now you have to live else be damned," Kai grinned wiping a stubborn tear away impatiently.

"Hmm," grunted Spier, "Get going, while you still have some daylight," he ordered.

"Aye Cap'n,"

Kairos poked his head into the kitchen.

"Liyr..."

The quartermaster looked up from where he was, by the look of it, contemplating the fate of the dismal universe in a half-eaten meat roll.

"I have to go, there's...well Randolf had something dangerous and I need to get it off the island without anyone knowing, I've said goodbye..." Kai trailed off awkwardly.

Liyr nodded, surprisingly understanding. He stood and clapped a hand on Kai's shoulder.

"You do what you need to do Kai, and be careful; I'll look after your father for the both of us,"

"Thanks," whispered Kairos, sniffing so as not to tear up again.

He pulled Liyr into an abrupt hug.

"Make sure he lives, he promised me..."

"You can count on it,"

Kai nodded swallowing around the lump in his throat as he stamped his feet into his boots, picked up his carry sack and left Liyr's cottage.

He took a deep breath of the warm night air to steady himself and then turned and made for the docks with a purpose. He would have to steal one of the smaller fishing sloops and hope he didn't get hit by a bad squall, but they weren't in season so he wasn't too worried. He would also have to steal enough food to get him to Alagaesia, which meant a good month's worth of rations that someone was going to miss...well; his father and Liyr would make sure his items were compensated for. Probably, they were men of incredibly skewed morals so who knew what they would do really.

Once he'd found and readied and stocked the appropriate sloop he jogged back to the jungle scrambled up the tree, retrieved the precious and deadly bundle, relieved to see that appart from acquiring a few eight legged tenents the bundle was exactly as he'd left it, and loaded it onto the ship. He then carefully manoeuvred himself out of the cove and onto the open ocean setting his course for Alagaesia just as his father had taught him.

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**AN: **There you have it kind soul who has stumbled across this fic and decided to take pity on the poor author who wrote it and review *hint hint*. Seriously, if there's anybody out there, let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 4: The Whitherto and the Whyfor

**Legacy**

**Chapter Four: The Whithertos and the Whyfors**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Inheritance Cycle, anything you recognize belongs to Paolini.

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much NadiaWolfsky for favouriting, glad to know you're enjoying it so far! All readers, please note that the speech that Brom gives is mostly the same as in the book with a few additions I tacked on. On to the story!

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Kairos scowled darkly around the small village the group of traders he had been travelling with since Therinsford had deigned to visit. The traders assured him they'd be making a stop in Teirm eventually but it was slow going, slower than Kairos was really comfortable with. Still he didn't really have much choice, interior Alagaesia was a dangerous place for a traveller alone and more especially for a traveller alone with four beacons for trouble and a stash of ancient weapons to try and make inconspicuous. He should count himself lucky that he'd even survived the storm that had thrown him so far off course and ended with him landing and selling his mostly intact sloop just outside of Therinsford. Still the constant delays rankled and the dragon eggs were burning holes in his carry sack.

"Hey there Merlock, is there anything interesting happening?" Kai asked spotting the fact that the jeweller had no round eyed girls ooing and awing over his wares for the moment and was free to chat a bit.

"Had one of the farmers try to sell me an interesting stone," Merlock said with a shrug.

"Really,"

"Yeah, beautiful thing but too big to set as well as being both incredibly hard and hollow, it's a crying shame I can't afford to indulge my curiosities this year...the stone was truly magnificent, I've never seen its equal," Merlock sighed mournfully.

"Well I'm sorry for you Merlock but with any luck they won't be able to get rid of it and you can pick it up in the spring when things are a bit better," Kairos said feigning sympathetic indifference. Inside his mind was reeling, could there be another dragon egg here?

"What did they look like Merlock, too poor to get it to some other city and sell it there?"

"They're naught but the poorest of farmers, the poor old man looked like a starved dog there's that light in his eyes you know? The boy was nice though, about your age, a polite lad if a bit blunt and he seemed rather attached to the stone. Glared at me something fierce with those doe eyes of his when I struck the darn thing,"

"Hn," grunted Kai in acknowledgement thinking.

"Best be getting along son, I've got selling to do and if the ladies think we're having a talk they'll keep their distance," Merlock scolded motioning him along.

Kai waved goodbye and wandered away from the jeweller's tent and into town thinking hard. If he could find these farmers and convince them to sell him the egg...but then again if four eggs were burning a hole in his carry sack would it really be wise to bring in a fifth one? Still the farmers had no idea what they were carrying, he at least knew the risks and could take precautions...well better than a bunch of farmers at any rate, he couldn't say he really knew all the risks but at least he was aware that there were some risks and on the lookout for others.

He shook his head, it was useless he was just thinking himself in circles and the whole idea rested on the notion that he could find the farmers with as brief and unhelpful a description as Merlock gave. Sighing he tucked himself into a corner of the traders camp and wrapped himself in his new fur cloak grateful for its warmth. He would think of something. For now he just had to watch and wait.

**oOoOo**

Eragon grinned widely as his cousin slunk off and joined Katrina in an out of the way corner. He stifled a giggle; the ale he'd drunk at Horst's was going to his head he realized taking a deep breath of the snow chilled air to clear the fog floating around his brain.

The night was clear, the flurries from earlier having fallen and the clouds having since cleared themselves away. He flowed with the crowd towards the traders' camp in the field where already people were laying down extra cloaks and huddling around bonfires. A large circle of stakes topped with candles had been set out and the whole event had a feel that was the pleasant cross between half-wild and homely that Eragon had come to associate with the people of Carvahall. It came he supposed from living isolated and on the edge of the Spine. They were very neighbourly, everybody was willing to help each other because you never knew when you might end up the one needing the help and unable to get it anywhere else, but also probably less than half-way civilized.

Eragon glanced around but he didn't see Garrow anywhere, shrugging he spotted a prime spot beside a fur-cloaked figure. He waited watching for any sign that the seat was occupied before cautiously approaching the stranger.

"Hey, um...is this seat taken," he asked hesitantly, going for non-threatening when he saw the wicked knife sheathed against the guy's thigh.

He looked up out of his hood and Eragon was pinned by a pair of searching and inherently suspicious green eyes framed by a thick hood of fur and a few wild strands of tawny-gold hair. The man stared Eragon straight in the eye for a long moment, long enough to make him supremely uncomfortable. He had the discomfiting sensation of being compared to a juicy steak. All of a sudden he was wondering just whether it was a good idea to sit near this man.

"Knock yourself out," nodded the man abruptly turning his gaze back to the circle.

Cautiously Eragon took a seat. The man was younger than he'd first thought not too much older than Eragon, realizing this made him relax a bit, though that might have simply been a result of not being stared down. In either case it made him bold enough to speak again.

"I'm Eragon," he introduced holding out his hand.

The stranger gave him another, shorter look.

"I'm Kairos," he said grabbing Eragon's hand in a firm handshake.

Eragon let out a relieved breath and grinned.

"Nice to meet you,"

He got a flash of straight white teeth for his trouble. By then though everyone had assembled and settled themselves and the gaudily bedecked and costumed troubadours started their performance leaving no room for chit chat. They were followed shortly after by the minstrels. The minstrels narrated and added song and dramatic music to the antics of their younger counterparts as one after another new stories of all kinds were told. Most were bawdy and fun, light-hearted enough to lift the spirits even in the midst of a hard winter and a hard time. There was the occasional old tragic love ballad thrown in here and there for the enjoyment of the young ladies and the closet romantics in the audience. Eragon barely noticed the cold so intent was he on the show, but sitting in the snow in only trews a shirt and jacket the cold seeped in and as soon as there was a break in the entertainments Eragon noticed that he was actually freezing and shivered violently.

"Come here," ordered his seat mate who until now had not spoken another two words to him.

Now he had a faintly resigned look on his face as he held open the loose fold of his fur cloak. Eragon stared at him amazedly.

"Are you sure?"

Kairos snorted and yanked Eragon roughly against him wrapping them both back into the warmth of the cloak.

"Am I sure, why would I offer if I wasn't sure?"

"To be nice?" Eragon suggested.

"I'm not nice, and my gods you're an ice cube, no wonder your lips were turning blue!" Kairos shivered.

"Yes, you're letting a complete stranger share a cloak with you, you're a terrible horrible person and ought to be stopped immediately," Eragon commented sarcastically.

Kairos didn't deign to answer.

Eragon for his part was enjoying what felt like the burning heat of Kairos' hands as they tried to rub some feeling back into his biceps. Of course then he felt a little uncomfortable after the poke of what was unmistakeably another dagger hilt made him realize he was warming up in the arms of a walking, talking armoury.

"Who's that? He's not one of ours," he asked suddenly.

The candles were burning low and a hush had fallen over the crowd as they all moved in closer to hear the last of the entertainers, the old storyteller, Eragon's friend Brom.

"That's Brom, he's Carvahall's storyteller, he's very good," Eragon whispered proudly.

"Hn," Kairos grunted.

Brom was an older man. There was grey peppered all throughout his dark brown hair and his beard was mostly white. He often could be found stooped and round-shouldered warming his bones by Horst's fire and telling stories to the young ones. Tonight though he stood straight and tall and thought the impression of great age was still there it was wisdom and world weariness that suffused him now, not frailty. His eyes were hard and ancient as chunks of onyx as he stared down the crowd.

"The sands of time cannot be stopped. Years pass whether we will them or not...but we can remember. What has been lost may yet live on in memories. That which you will hear is imperfect, fragmented, and incomplete, yet treasure it, for without you it no longer exists. I give you now a memory that has long been forgotten, hidden in the dreamy haze that is all the moments that have already passed,"

His keen and penetrating stare hammered the words into the very souls of the assembled and without meaning to they all leaned forward collectively. His eyes came to stare into Eragon's last of all and they lingered there the longest time.

"Before your grandfathers' fathers were born, and yea, even before their fathers, the Dragon Riders were formed. To protect and guard those who could not defend themselves was their mission, and for thousands of years they succeeded. Their prowess in battle was unmatched, for each had the strength of ten men. They were immortal unless blade or poison took them. For good only, were their powers used, and under their tutelage tall cities and towers were built out of living stone. While they kept peace, the land flourished. It was a golden time. The elves were our allies, the dwarves our friends. Wealth flowed into our cities, and men prospered. But weep...for it could not last,"

Brom dropped his gaze for a moment, sadness resonating in his voice. So intense was the emotion that even the hardest and coldest of the audience found their throats choked with emotion or nameless tears in their eyes.

"Though no enemy from the outside could destroy them they grew arrogant and could not, in any case, guard against themselves," Brom resumed. "And it came to pass that at the height of their power that a boy, Galbatorix by name, was born in the province of Inzilbeth, which is no more. At ten he was tested, as was the custom, and it was found that great power resided in him. The Riders accepted him as one of their own. He passed through their training with an ease that bordered on contemptuous and his arrogance was not unfounded for he was unmatched in skill. Gifted with a sharp mind and a strong body he quickly took his place among the Riders' ranks. Some saw the danger inherent in his abrupt rise to power, they warned others but the Riders had grown haughty in their power and ignored the caution.

So it was that soon after he was granted his full Rider status and his training was completed Galbatorix took a reckless trip with two friends into the North, and the Urgals' remaining territory. Alas sorrow was conceived that day. The young Riders foolishly thought that their new powers would protect them. They were wrong. The Urgals ambushed them in their sleep and on a block of ice un-melted even in the height of summer, his friends and their dragons were butchered and Galbatorix himself suffered great wounds. Galbatorix was able to defeat his enemies but the price of his arrogance was paid. His dragon had taken a stray arrow through the heart and even with all the powers he had at his disposal she died in his arms. It was then that the seeds of pure madness were planted.

Galbatorix was alone bereft of the better part of his strength and suffering the incredible grief and shock of losing his friends and his beloved dragon, he was without hope; stranded in a desolate land he sought death. It did not come to him though he threw himself without fear at any living thing. Urgals and other monsters soon fled from his haunted form. During this time he came to realize that the Riders might grant him another dragon and thereby end the pain of the missing piece of his self. Driven by this thought he began the arduous journey on foot back through the Spine. Territory he'd once soared over effortlessly on dragon back now took him months to traverse. He could hunt with magic but oftentimes he walked in places where animals did not travel, thus when his feet finally left the mountains he was close to death. A farmer found him collapsed in the mud and summoned the Riders. Unconscious he was taken to their holdings at Vroengard and his body was healed. He slept for four days.

Upon awakening he gave no sign of the desperation, the fever that drove him. He was deemed well and brought before a council to judge him on his responsibility for the deaths of his friends and dragon. When he demanded another dragon from the council the true nature of his dementia was revealed. The council finally saw him for what he truly was and denied his request. At this last severing of hope Galbatorix came to believe, through the twisted mirror of his madness, that is was the Riders' fault his dragon had died. Night after night he brooded on that and formulated a plan to exact revenge. The Riders knew that he had no place else to go and were sympathetic, none of them could even conceive his grief at the loss of his dragon; he was the only one who had survived it for as long as he had. Besides that he had once been one of their best and brightest and there were some who wanted to keep a close eye on the progression of his madness not believing he was not a threat. For all these reasons he was allowed to stay in Vroengard, allowed to let reminders of all he had lost and hatred of those whose fault it was not fester in his heart and mind. He did nothing, simply waited until he found a sympathizer.

Through insidious and twisted reasoning and dark secrets learned by a Shade he inflamed the younger Rider against their elders. Together they plotted and together they lured and killed an elder. Then Galbatorix turned on his companion and slew him without warning or cause. The Riders found him them dripping in blood and he fled into the night. They pursued him relentlessly for years and for years he hid in the wastelands like the hunted animal he had become. Time passed and with time the immediacy of the treachery and horror lessened and so did the search parties. The Riders relaxed their guard once more and it was then that he struck again.

Through some stroke of ill fortune or another he met with a young Rider, Morzan, a young man who was strong of body but weak of mind. Galbatorix convinced him to leave the gate to the citadel of Ilirea, which is now called Uru'baen, open, and through this gate he entered the citadel and stole a dragon hatchling. This was another blow to his sanity as the forced bonding with the young hatchling did not fill the void where his first dragon had been, it did nothing to ease the pain of the loss. What it did do was fragment his mind yet again.

He and Morzan fled to a nameless, evil, place where Morzan entered into a dark apprenticeship and learned secrets of black magics that should never have been unearthed. When his instruction was complete and Galbatorix's black dragon Shruikan was fully grown they revealed themselves to the world. Together they sought out Riders and killed any they met, if not the first time then not long after. With each kill their strength grew. Twelve of the Riders joined Galbatorix out of desire for power and revenge against perceived wrongs. Those twelve, with Morzan, became the Thirteen Forsworn.

The Riders were grossly unprepared and fell beneath this sudden onslaught. The elves too fought bitterly and long against Galbatorix but they too were overthrown eventually and forced to flee to their secret places, from whence they come no more. Only Vrael, the leader of the Riders, ancient and wise as he was could stand against Galbatorix. He tried to save what he could and keep the last living Riders and dragons from falling into the hands of the madman who had once been his brother in arms. In the last battle, before the gates of Doru Areaba Vrael defeated Galbatorix but despite all the atrocities committed by Galbatorix Vrael hesitated to take the final blow.

Galbatorix took advantage of this moment's indecision and smote Vrael in the side. Vrael fled to Utgard Mountain hoping to recover his strength. Galbatorix found him there and again they fought until Galbatorix kicked Vrael in the fork of his legs and with this underhanded blow took off the Rider's head. As the power flowed through his veins he declared himself then and there King over all of Alagaesia...and he has ruled us ever since,"

There was no applause after Brom's story though it was breathtaking in its intensity for how could they applaud such a tale of terrible woe. Tears shone in more than a few eyes even in Brom's. As he bowed and turned away Eragon watched his shoulders stoop and his head hang wearily and once more he was just a tired old man, one with tears in his eyes.

Brom walked away with the troubadours but it took a long moment for the crowd to force itself back into action as they began packing up, putting out fires and muttering to themselves, surreptitiously exchanging handkerchiefs and blotting at damp eyes. Eragon cleared his throat of choked back tears and turned to Kairos who looked as emotionally drained as he felt.

"I told you, he's very good," Eragon said unable to think of anything else to break the silence.

He surprised a chuckle out of the trader.

"Yes, he is at that," agreed Kairos standing and helping Eragon to his feet.

Eragon was immediately regretting the double loss of body heat and the warmth of the fur cloak as a chill wind struck the back of his neck.

"Eragon!" came a familiar shout.

Eragon turned and shot a glance over his shoulder where Garrow was waiting looking cold and impatient. Roran was bidding Katrina a quick, discreet goodbye not far away.

"Coming!" Eragon shouted back to his uncle, "That's my Uncle Garrow I'd better get going, thanks though, for letting me keep warm in your cloak I mean,"

Kairos smiled faintly.

"Don't worry about it, you're...interesting,"

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

"Are you in the village? I'd like to talk to you again,"

"No," Eragon shook his head regretfully, "We live on a farm out that way. I don't know if I'll be able to get back here before you leave,"

Kairos shrugged as if it didn't matter but Eragon caught the brief flash of disappointment in his eyes.

"If you get the chance toss my name around the camp someone ought to know where to find me,"

"Eragon!"

Eragon waved at his uncle in answer.

"Goodbye and have a safe journey, in case I don't see you,"

Kairos took his outstretched hand and shook it.

"Take care of yourself Eragon,"

"You too,"

Eragon jogged over to where his uncle and Roran were waiting rather impatiently.

"Come on boy, get moving before my fingers fall off," scolded Garrow gruffly.

"Who was that?" asked Roran curiously.

"One of the traders, Kairos, I met him before the performance,"

Garrow grunted in acknowledgment narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Kairos' retreating figure before turning his attention back to his son and nephew.

"You boys are very lucky, I have heard this tale only twice in my life. If the Empire knew that Brom had told it he wouldn't live to see a new month," Garrow informed them gravely.

Eragon felt honoured that Brom would risk his life to tell the tale to them of all people and he stored it carefully away in the vaults of his mind vowing to remember it and pass it on one day. The truth about the King should not be kept a secret, and it was like Brom said, without the memories of the people who heard the story, the knowledge of the past and how the present came to be might as well not exist.

"Did you enjoy yourself Roran?" asked Eragon suddenly remembering that his cousin had spent most of the day in Katrina's company.

Roran gave him a wide grin.

"I did, and you,"

"I think it was one of the best days I've ever had," Eragon said with an answering grin.

"Would have been better if we could have sold that bloody stone," Garrow grumbled annoyed.

"It'll be alright Garrow, you'll see," Eragon tried to comfort him.

Garrow grunted a sceptical acknowledgement. Eragon heaved a worried sigh as Garrow went on ahead.

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**AN:** Alright finally some canon characters! Lets see some reviews people, let me know what you guys think!


	5. Chapter 5: Hatching

**Legacy**

**Chapter Five: Hatching**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Inheritance Cycle.

**Author's Note:** So still not much response for this fic, sad day, but thanks to anybody who's reading! A shout out to victoriacaesar if she's reading this, kiss kiss dahling!

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Kairos got back to his tent and shrugged out of his damp and snowy cloak and kicked off his boots letting them roll into the tent wall. Hands shaking with barely suppressed emotion he lit the collapsible brazier that came with it with a violent strike of his flint.

It took a few minutes but soon enough warmth was flooding through the small cured canvas tent chasing the last of the northern chill from his bones. Carefully he hung his cloak up to dry beating some of the lingering snow off it. The coals hissed as the water struck them and evaporated.

Once that was done he turned around and regarded his bedroll shaking his head in disbelief.

"Doe eyes indeed," he laughed without humour tugging a glove off with his teeth and running a hand through his hair.

So Eragon was the one in possession of the fifth egg. There could be no mistaking him. Merlock's description, though at first glance was not very helpful, seemed to sum up the entirety of the other boy. It was his eyes that gave him away; they were the biggest darkest most innocent brown eyes that Kai had ever seen. Just as Merlock had said. Still, even though he'd by some accidental miracle managed to find the other egg keeper and another egg in general it didn't solve his dilemma in the least. Well excepting the fact that now that he'd spent a few hours in his company he was almost positive that Eragon wouldn't give the dragon egg over to Galbatorix for money or the promise of power. The question now became what was he going to do about this development, he hadn't planned for this, he barely had any idea of what he was going to do with his current set of problems without adding in this little snag.

"You're only here for another couple of days, you need to make some kind of decision," growled Kai tossing his jacket onto his bed angrily and rolling up his shirtsleeves to expose tanned forearms.

Glancing around he retrieved the sack containing the dragon eggs and laid them out on the rug that was serving as a floor. There was the purple one which he was rather fond of, one that was a dark blue-grey like a cloudy night sky, another was a rich turquoise, and the last was a burnished bronze-amber. He touched them one by one careful to keep near the floor where their silhouettes would be obscured by the other items in the tent. He didn't want to risk some less than scrupulous trader catching sight of them and getting it into his head to rob him.

"What am I going to do with you?" he murmured fondly stroking the purple egg.

He only had a couple of options. He could steal the egg, something he was loath to do considering it was Eragon's and he liked the other boy. He could leave it with Eragon, but Eragon didn't know about what it really was or what it was worth in blood, besides the Varden needed the edge the eggs gave them to defeat Galbatorix, of course the Varden were obvious targets.

"Can they really protect you? Or will they just use you as weapons?" he asked the eggs softly.

The debate was one he'd not given voice to until now. Did the Varden really know what they were doing with the eggs? His father and Randolf had said one egg had been stolen for them eventually, but there had been no evidence that if the Varden had the egg that it had actually hatched

"I could tell him," Kairos muttered considering, "He could hide it and guard its secret and then I could scout out the Varden see if they are really as good as they say and if not well they don't need the weapons and all the eggs. I don't want to destroy the last hope Alagaesia has in one fell swoop. I'll take two eggs to Jeod and escort them to the Varden make sure everything's safe and then go back to the island to make sure father and Liyr are okay and then I'll return to Carvahall to help Eragon guard the rest of the eggs and the weapons," he nodded to himself as he carefully packed the eggs away, it was a good plan.

Well, it was a good plan provided Eragon could be trusted, and that he even believed him. Maybe he should just buy the last egg and then hide the stuff somewhere and continue with the plan from there. Any number of things could go wrong that way though; someone or something could find it. He wasn't Vrael; he had no magical protections to keep away thieves.

"And a fat lot of good it did in the long run anyway," muttered Kai thinking about Randolf as he flung himself onto his bedroll annoyed.

Crossing his arms and worrying his lower lip with his teeth as he ran through his options again.

"Gods, no wonder the poor bastard went so crazy, I'm at least half-way to paranoid myself," he muttered.

Checking to be sure the brazier was in no danger of tipping and lighting his tent and everything in it on fire Kai sighed scrubbing at his eyes tiredly.

"I'll think about it in the morning,"

He peeled off his wide array of weapons and set them within easy reach, wrapped himself up in the warm fur of his blankets and closed his bleary eyes. Everything would be clearer in the morning he tried to mentally assure himself.

"S'not morning," was Kai's first thought upon waking and finding it was still dark and blustery outside.

His second thought was a long stream of startled cursing as a loud but strangely muffled squeak sounded.

"What was that, giant mice?" muttered Kai unsheathing his long knife from its holster still strapped to his thigh.

He waited eyes scanning the darkness and ears straining to hear any sound over the shrill howling of the wind and the flapping of tent fabric. The faint light from the burned down coals in the brazier touched everything with a hellish red glow. The seconds ticked by and just as Kai was preparing to relax and write it off as lack of sleep he heard a musical clink and another loud squeak. Kai whipped himself around and back out of bed knife raised threateningly. Then he saw just where he was looking.

"Can't be, can it?" he muttered to himself sheathing the knife and retrieving the egg sack from his carry sack.

The sack wriggled in his arms with another series of faint clinking noises followed by a much louder peep. Kai nearly dropped the eggs in shock.

"No, no, no, no, no! Stay inside little dragon where it's safe," he muttered to the sack urgently, green eyes wide.

The sack gave a peep that, to Kai at least, sounded rather defiant as the sound of cracking and clinking followed.

"Alright, alright, at least wait until I get you out unless you'd rather be born in a sack!" hissed Kairos fumbling at the ties with shaking fingers.

The next squeak was followed by another crack and a whole lot of muffled clinking and seeing that time was of the essence Kai simply dumped the whole bag out onto his bedroll in a panic. Without a second to spare as while rolling across the lumpy bedclothes the blue-grey egg burst open sending large pieces of dark shell flying everywhere and leaving a baby dragon the colour of the night sky sprawled out on his bed.

Kairos jerked away from the egg shrapnel and landed on his butt with an arm thrown up to shield his face from the sharp shards. After a second he gathered up his courage and dropped his hand to take stock of the situation.

"Oh crap," muttered Kai running a hand through his hair a few times to calm himself.

The baby dragon made a little gurgling sound and roused itself, flaring its wings and primly licking a bit of membrane off its haunches. It was about the size of a half-grown cat in the body though the wings and tail made it about four times as big in truth. Kai spared a brief moment to wonder how the creature had fit in the egg. Carefully he moved forward and was the subject of instant and unflinching attention from a pair of alien ocean blue eyes. The dragon regarded him suspiciously and made a gurgling noise when he slowly knelt by the bed roll and reached out a hand.

"It's alright, you're safe, I'm not going to hurt you, or let anyone else hurt you," Kai crooned feeling strangely protective of the little dragon, "You've just got a bit of shell stuck to your head there,"

Kai continued to speak in his most soothing non-threatening voice. Slowly he placed his curled under fingers near its nose letting it get a good whiff of his scent. The dragon sniffed at him a moment its hot breath tickling Kairos' palm. Then ever so slowly he reached out and plucked the bit of shell off the top of the dragon's head.

"There now, you see? Just like I told you," he breathed showing the dragon the midnight blue shard.

The dragon hummed and gurgled pulling itself up by gently hooking its sharp serrated talons onto Kai's arm where it then proceeded to sniff at the bit of egg shell in his palm while he grew steadily more aware that it would take less than a pound of pressure for the dragon to rip open the veins in his arms. He stiffened as the dragon gurgled happily and nuzzled its head against his wrist.

Kai opened his mouth to try and scream as it felt like his blood was being set on fire and frozen all at once. It seemed that a thousand knives were stabbing him all over his body and in the background with the small corner of his mind not consumed by the pain he heard what sounded like a scream of rage and the toll of a bell. Then a suddenly as it had come the pain left him and there was nothing but the sound of his heart pounding in his ears, the harsh scrape of his breath and the low worried croons of the dragon.

Kai sat up warily not even having registered falling and was alarmed to find his whole forearm was numb and he had a silvery-white ovular spiral mark on the inside of his wrist one that itched more that the time he got three bug bites on top of one and other on that island southwest of Surda, the one with the cannibals on it. He tried to make a fist and was relieved when his fingers twitched clumsily. At least he was pretty sure the damage wasn't permanent.

"What in the hellfire did you do?" he asked the dragon who was looking up at him with wide eyes having curled itself into his lap while he was presumably unconscious.

The dragon cheeped and gurgled at him and all of a sudden Kai had the very disconcerting sensation of something brushing against his mind making him aware of it as if someone had suddenly pointed out he was standing on a little spit of rock with a sheer drop on all sides. It was terrifying but at the same time thrilling, the way jumping from the rigging into the ocean was thrilling. The brush came again this time with the strong impression of curiosity. It wasn't curiosity as Kairos was used to thinking of it and feeling it per se but it was close enough that Kai was able to identify it.

"Wow, that is..." he looked down at his lap, "That's you isn't it?" he concluded amazedly as the dragon gurgled in what sounded suspiciously like satisfaction and a rush of satisfaction replaced the gentle tendril of curiosity.

Kairos blinked to clear away the sudden dizziness that had taken him at the rush of emotion from the dragon. Following that emotion an equally overpowering sense of ravenous hunger took over and the dragon made a plaintive noise aloud. Kai could practically feel the dragon's hunger, the gnawing emptiness clawing at his own stomach despite the fact that he'd eaten very well that night.

"Yeah well I'd be hungry too rocking and peeping about and then going around frying the nerves of innocent egg bearers," muttered Kairos gently depositing the dragon on the bedroll and rummaging around in his carry sack for the meat rolls he'd stored there.

When he turned around the dragon had wrapped itself around the turquoise egg and was crooning and gurgling to it. Its claws made faint chiming sounds as it scrambled over it to reach the amber egg. It turned to look at Kairos tail twitching.

'_?'_

Kairos sighed and broke the meat rolls into manageable pieces.

"No little one, they'll not be joining you just yet I don't think," Kai said gathering the dragon up into his lap and feeding it the bits of meat roll.

'_!_'

A wave of grateful excitement rolled through him.

"You're welcome," Kairos said rolling his eyes a bit as the dragon hatchling practically inhaled its first meal.

When the dragon's belly bulged and the last of the meat rolls had been consumed Kai carefully set it aside and began tiredly cleaning up all evidence of the debacle of the last three-quarter hour. The remaining eggs went back into their sack and were then re-hidden in his carry sack and the shards of blue-grey egg shell went into his belt pouch to be buried at a later date. The sky was lightening with false dawn when Kairos poked his head out of the tent. No one was awake yet but they would be soon, they would want to pack everything away and be ready to move out by nightfall so they would get an early start.

"Come here," he told the dragon scooping it up before it could fall completely asleep and wrapping it in a scarf.

The dragon made a gurgling protest but Kai gave it a quick mental assurance and it subsided grouchily.

"We have to get you out of here before someone sees you," he told it pulling his weapons, jacket and cloak on and stomping into his boots.

With the dragon tucked against him and the sun rising at his back Kairos made his way out of the main town and into the foothills of the Spine which were heavily forested. The sun was already up by the time he reached them and the dragon was drowsing.

Kai hunted around the foot of the mountain until he could find an appropriate shelter for the dragon. He finally decided on a small cave, just big enough for him lying down. The little dragon was a heat source all its own, he'd discovered while walking, so it wouldn't suffer from cold, and he put out a few strips of dried meat in case it got hungry while he was away.

With all that accomplished he sat it down and looked it in the eye.

"Now, I'm going to leave you here for a while, stay here and wait for me, I'll come back soon," he said reinforcing the words with soothing mental images about his intentions.

The dragon crooned and gurgled unhappily a thin rivulet of smoke rising from its nostrils. Its mental protest wasn't exactly coherent but he understood its intent. It didn't want him to leave.

"I know, I don't much like it either," said Kai sighing and raking a hand through his tawny hair.

The little dragon curled its tail around his wrist burbling.

"I'll be back before you know it," he said gently but firmly extricating himself from the creature's loose hold.

The dragon gave him a soft mental caress, and Kairos returned it somewhat clumsily not wanting to hurt the dragon with to forceful a mental touch. Then before he could change his mind he jogged away from the little cave-haven back down to Carvahall and the rest of his young charges.

"Where have you been young Kairos?" boomed the familiar voice of the Caravan Master.

Kai froze a thrill of fear sliding up his spine.

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**AN: **Well, what do you think?

Should Kai's dragon be male or female? What should it's name be? Should Kai try to tell Eragon what his funny blue stone really is?

Review and let me know your answers to all these questions and any ideas you might have. At this point pretty much any feedback, negative, positive, irrelevant, is welcome.

Alright enough with my needy whining, hope you enjoyed!


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